Fatal California fires spur search for solutions

BILLINGS, Montana (AP) — Creating fire buffers between housing and dry brush and burying spark-prone power lines underground would give people a better chance of surviving wildfires, experts say. So would controlled burns, a proven, historic practice that has been neglected in recent decades. Some even suggest building fire-hardened shelters in vulnerable towns, where residents can ride out the deadly firestorms.
Hundreds of thousands of people were told to leave their homes ahead of the b